Judge sentences man to life in prison for killing Newark barber, calling it 'brutal assassination'

NEWARK — Derek West Harris was arrested, then jailed, for not paying his traffic tickets. Two days later, the 51-year-old Newark barber was dead, strangled by a fellow inmate who had tried to rob him of a few dollars and some cigarettes.

Friday, a Superior Court judge sentenced Giancarlo Bonilla, the man convicted of putting Harris in a deadly chokehold, to life in prison.

"The offense can be described as a brutal assassination," Superior Court Judge Peter Ryan said before imposing the maximum term on the 31-year-old man.

In January, a jury convicted Bonilla of felony murder for killing Harris on May 18, 2009, inside Delaney Hall, a correctional facility primarily for drug offenders. Harris had been sent there for failing to pay $722 in traffic fines.

Bonilla and two younger inmates were charged in the killing, which happened while they tried to rob the man. The other defendants have since pleaded guilty to robbery.

The jury acquitted Bonilla of first-degree murder, but convicted him of felony murder, for causing Harris’ death while committing a robbery.

Bonilla testified at trial, saying he and Harris were attacked inside the jail, and that someone else killed the victim. He maintained his innocence Friday. "I apologize to the family for their loss," he said, adding, "the truth will come out in the future."

Bonilla’s attorney, Sterling Kinsale, said he plans to appeal the verdict, and said the sentence was excessive. "The judge was put off by the fact that the guy was in jail for unpaid tickets," he said.

In a written statement to the court, the victim’s son, also named Derek Harris, called his father "the greatest man ever to walk this earth."